Don't drag your feet...

Everyone knows that the home markets have been very busy. We have been saying for a while that if you have to sleep on it, you will never sleep in it. I have a quick cautionary tale that speaks to this.

Before I left for the holiday, I had received an offer on my townhome I was selling. It was a full price offer, but the buyers wanted quite a bit of closing costs paid by the seller...me. So, I countered their offer with an expiration date 2 days out. Day one came and went. Wednesday at 3 was the deadline. I called the agent on Wednesday morning and asked her if her clients would be excepting our counter offer. The agent could not give me an answer an seemed to me to not be in close contact with her clients.

Fast forward to 11am the same morning. I get a call from another agent asking about the townhome and explaining she was about to send me an offer. I told her I was working on an offer but nothing was signed yet. In came her offer, full price with a bit less in closing costs. I countered over the phone and her clients quickly agreed.

I sent a notification to the first agent withdrawing our counter, explaining that we had received a better offer. We signed with the second agent, whose clients were ready and able to make a quick decision.

The first agent called me back and was quite upset. My answer? I gave you plenty of time to get back to me and even called to see if I could get your offer signed. Not my problem if you and your clients want to drag your feet...I said to myself.

If you are looking to buy a home, don't wait for the time limits to expire. Get your answers to counters back as soon as you can or you could lose out on the home you want.

Posted by

I write about daily life as a Realtor in the Towne Lake Community in Woodstock Georgia.

I'm a bit confused... If you signed back the offer to the Buyer until 3:00 p.m. that day, how could you accept another Offer when the expiration time had not yet expired. What if the other offer accepted before the deadline? Would you have sold your house twice? We cannot withdraw an offer here once it has been presented, and we have to wait until the first offer has expired before accepting another one...

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